Conditional access system for satellite outdoor unit

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus is disclosed to restrict the delivery of video, audio, and/or data to unauthorized end users in a satellite communications system. The satellite communications system includes one or more satellite receiving antennas, commonly referred to as a satellite dish, to receive downlink communications signals from one or more satellites. The transmission received by the one or more satellite receiving antennas is converted by an outdoor unit (ODU) for transmission to one or more indoor units (IDUs). The ODU receives control information from one or more satellites from the downlink communications signals, commonly referred to as in-band, and/or from out-of-band communications signals. The ODU may use the control information to restrict access to one or more communications channels embedded within the downlink communications signals to the unauthorized end users.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/166,353, filed Jun. 22, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,989,083, whichclaims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Appl. No. 61/447,969,filed Mar. 1, 2011, each of which is incorporated herein by reference inits entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of Invention

The present invention generally relates to an Outdoor Unit (ODU) of asatellite broadcast system. More specifically, the invention relates toa conditional access system for the ODU.

Related Art

A satellite broadcaster broadcasts an event, such as a sporting contest,a musical concert, a speech, a movie, a television sitcom, or atelevision reality show to provide some examples, to one or more endusers for viewing using a satellite communications system. The satellitecommunications system typically includes one or more earth stations toprovide video, audio, and/or data depicting the event as well as video,audio, and/or data depicting other events and/or services, such assatellite internet access to provide an example. The earth stationsprovide the video, audio, and/or data to one or more satellites fortransmission to the one or more end users. The one or more end userstypically receive transmission from the satellite using one or moresatellite receiving antennas, commonly referred to as a satellite dish.The transmission received by the one or more satellite receivingantennas is converted by an outdoor unit (ODU) for transmission to oneor more indoor units (IDUs). The one or more indoor units (IDUs) decodethe transmission from the ODU for delivery to the one or more end users.

The satellite broadcaster typically employs a conventional conditionalaccess system to restrict the delivery of the video, the audio, and/orthe data to unauthorized end users. Conventionally, these conventionalconditional access systems are placed within the IDUs. However, if theseconventional conditional access systems are compromised by theunauthorized end users, the satellite broadcaster is unable to restrictthe delivery of the video, the audio, and/or the data. For example, theunauthorized end users may procure an unauthorized, yet functional,commonly referred to “pirated”, IDU to circumvent the conventionalconditional access systems. In this situation the satellite broadcasteris unable to restrict the delivery of the video, the audio, and/or thedata to the unauthorized end users.

Thus, there is a need for an apparatus and/or a method to restrict thedelivery of the video, the audio, and/or the data to the unauthorizedend users that overcomes the shortcomings described above. Furtheraspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparentfrom the detailed description that follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES

The accompanying drawings illustrate the present invention and, togetherwith the description, further serve to explain the principles of theinvention and to enable one skilled in the pertinent art to make and usethe invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a satellite communicationsenvironment according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an outdoor unit (ODU) implementedas part of the satellite communications environment according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a signal processing tunerimplemented as part of the first ODU according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a network receiver implemented aspart of the first ODU according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an outdoor unit (ODU) implementedas part of the satellite communications environment according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention will now be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers generallyindicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similarelements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated bythe leftmost digit(s) in the reference number.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following Detailed Description refers to accompanying drawings toillustrate exemplary embodiments consistent with the invention.References in the Detailed Description to “one exemplary embodiment,”“an exemplary embodiment,” “an example exemplary embodiment,” etc.,indicate that the exemplary embodiment described may include aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every exemplaryembodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature,structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarilyreferring to the same exemplary embodiment. Further, when a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with anexemplary embodiment, it is within the knowledge of those skilled in therelevant art(s) to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic inconnection with other exemplary embodiments whether or not explicitlydescribed.

The exemplary embodiments described herein are provided for illustrativepurposes, and are not limiting. Other exemplary embodiments arepossible, and modifications may be made to the exemplary embodimentswithin the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the DetailedDescription is not meant to limit the invention. Rather, the scope ofthe invention is defined only in accordance with the following claimsand their equivalents.

Embodiments of the invention may be implemented in hardware, firmware,software, or any combination thereof. Embodiments of the invention mayalso be implemented as instructions stored on a machine-readable medium,which may be read and executed by one or more processors. Amachine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storing ortransmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., acomputing device). For example, a machine-readable medium may includeread only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic diskstorage media; optical storage media; flash memory devices; electrical,optical, acoustical or other forms of propagated signals (e.g., carrierwaves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.), and others. Further,firmware, software, routines, instructions may be described herein asperforming certain actions. However, it should be appreciated that suchdescriptions are merely for convenience and that such actions in factresult from computing devices, processors, controllers, or other devicesexecuting the firmware, software, routines, instructions, etc.

The following Detailed Description of the exemplary embodiments will sofully reveal the general nature of the invention that others can, byapplying knowledge of those skilled in relevant art(s), readily modifyand/or adapt for various applications such exemplary embodiments,without undue experimentation, without departing from the spirit andscope of the present invention. Therefore, such adaptations andmodifications are intended to be within the meaning and plurality ofequivalents of the exemplary embodiments based upon the teaching andguidance presented herein. It is to be understood that the phraseologyor terminology herein is for the purpose of description and not oflimitation, such that the terminology or phraseology of the presentspecification is to be interpreted by those skilled in relevant art(s)in light of the teachings herein.

Satellite Communications Environment According to an ExemplaryEmbodiment of the Present Invention

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a satellite communicationsenvironment according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention. A satellite communications environment 100 represents adirect broadcast satellite communications environment that directlybroadcasts information, such as video, audio, and/or data, from one ormore satellites to one or more end user devices. The satellitecommunication environment 100 includes satellites 102.1 through 102.n, asatellite receiving antenna 104, an outdoor unit (ODU) 106, indoor units(IDUs) 108.1 through 108.n, and end user devices 110.1 through 110.n.

The satellites 102.1 through 102.n provide downlink communicationssignals 150.1 through 150.n to the satellite receiving antenna 104. Thedownlink represents a first communications path from the satellites102.1 through 102.n to the satellite receiving antenna 104. An uplinkrepresents a second communications path from an earth station (not shownin FIG. 1) to the satellites 102.1 through 102.n. The downlinkcommunications signals 150.1 through 150.n may include information, suchas video, audio, and/or data to provide some examples, that is receivedfrom the earth station via the uplink for transmission to the one ormore end user devices 110. For example, the video, the audio, and/or thedata may include television, internet data, and/or other services toconsumers. As another example, the video, the audio, and/or the data mayadditionally include control information for operation of the ODU 106,the IDUs 108.1 through 108.n, and/or the end user devices 110.1 through110.n.

The satellites 102.1 through 102.n provide the downlink communicationssignals 150.1 through 150.n using an assigned frequency spectrum orband. As an example, satellites 102.1 through 102.n may transmit thedownlink communications signals 150.1 through 150.n using the Kufrequency band from approximately 12.5 GHz to approximately 18.0 GHz,the K frequency band from approximately 18.0 GHz to approximately 25.5GHz, the Ka frequency band from approximately 26.5 GHz to approximately40.0 GHz or any other suitable frequency band that will be apparent tothose skilled in the relevant art(s) without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention. Typically, the assigned frequencyband is divided into n communications channels, whereby each of thesatellites 102.1 through 102.n is assigned to transmit its respectivedownlink communications signal 150.1 through 150.n using one or more ofthe n communications channels. In an exemplary embodiment, the assignedfrequency band is divided into communications channels having a fixedbandwidth of approximately 500 MHz with approximately 100 MHz spacing,commonly referred to as a guard band, between communications channels.

The assigned frequency spectrum, common referred to as in-band, may beused to transfer the control information from the earth station and/orthe satellites 102.1 through 102.n to the ODU 106, the IDUs 108.1through 108.n, and/or the end user devices 110.1 through 110.n.Alternatively, one or more communications channels outside of theassigned frequency spectrum, commonly referred to as out-of-band, may beused to transfer the control information. The control information mayinclude control signals and/or information relating to the television,the internet data, and/or the other services for the end user devices110.1 through 110.n. The ODU 106 may use the control information toenable and/or disable communication entirely with one or more of theIDUs 108.1 through 108.n or to control access to the television, theinternet data, and/or the other services embedded within the one or moreof the n communications channels to provide a conditional access systembetween the satellites 102.1 through 102.n and the IDUs 108.1 through108.n. For example, the may use the control information to enable and/ordisable communication entirely with one or more of the IDUs 108.1through 108.n or to limit or to restrict access to the television, theinternet data, and/or the other services embedded within the one or moreof the n communications channels to provide the conditional accesssystem.

The satellite receiving antenna 104 observes the downlink communicationssignals 150.1 through 150.n within the assigned frequency spectrum toprovide an observed communications signal 152. The downlinkcommunications signals 150.1 through 150.n may include information, suchas video, audio, and/or data that is received from the earth station viathe uplink for transmission to the one or more end user devices 110and/or the control information. The satellite receiving antenna 104 mayadditionally observe the control information that is characterized asbeing out-of-band. The satellite receiving antenna 104 may beimplemented as a parabolic antenna, commonly referred to as a dish, oras any other well known antenna that is capable of receiving thedownlink communications signals 150.1 through 150.n that will beapparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present invention. Although not shown inFIG. 1, the satellite communications environment 100 may use multiplesatellite receiving antennas 104 to observe the downlink communicationssignals 150.1 through 150.n.

The ODU 106 provides an intermediary communications signal 154 basedupon the observed communications signal 152. The ODU 106 extracts one ormore desired communications channels from among the n communicationschannels embedded within the observed communications signal 152. The ODU106 frequency translates one or more of the desired communicationschannels, or portions thereof, to an intermediate frequency band, suchas approximately 950 MHz to 2150 MHz to provide an example, to providethe intermediary communications signal 154. Optionally, the ODU 106 maydemodulate the one or more of the desired communications channels, orthe portions thereof, and remodulate these communications channels in aformat different from the downlink communications signals 150.1 through150.n, such as Ethernet to provide an example.

The ODU 106 also receives the control information embedded within theobserved communications signal 152 and/or the control information thatis characterized as being out-of-band. The ODU 106 may enable and/ordisable communication entirely with one or more of the IDUs 108.1through 108.n in response to the control information. Alternatively, theODU 106 may disable and/or enable one or more of the multiple signalprocessing tuners to control access to one or more of the desiredcommunication channels to provide the conditional access system.

The IDUs 108.1 through 108.n decode the intermediary communicationssignal 154 to provide recovered communications channels 156.1 through156.n. The IDUs 108.1 through 108.n extract the one or more desiredcommunications channels from among the n communications channelsembedded within the recovered communications channels 156.1 through156.n. The IDUs 108.1 through 108.n parse and/or deliver theinformation, such as the video, the audio, and/or the data to providesome examples, that is received from the one or more desiredcommunications channels embedded within the intermediary communicationssignal 154.

The end user devices 110.1 through 110.n may include televisions,monitors, personal computers, data terminal equipment, telephonydevices, mobile communication devices, broadband media players, personaldigital assistants, software applications, or any other device that iscapable of utilizing the video, the audio, and/or the data embeddedwithin the recovered communications channels 156.1 through 156.

A First Outdoor Unit (ODU) According to an Exemplary Embodiment of thePresent Invention

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an outdoor unit (ODU) implementedas part of the satellite communications environment according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention. An ODU 200 selects one ormore of desired communications channels, or portions thereof, from amongthe n communications channels embedded within the observedcommunications signal 152. The ODU 200 may receive control informationfor operation of the IDUs 108.1 through 108.n and/or the end userdevices 110.1 through 110.n. The ODU 200 may use the control informationto enable and/or disable communication entirely with one or more of theIDUs 108.1 through 108.n or to control access to the television, theinternet data, and/or the other services embedded within the one or moreof the n communications channels to provide a conditional access systembetween the satellites 102.1 through 102.n and the IDUs 108.1 through108.n. The ODU 200 includes a frequency translation module 202, anetwork receiver 204, and a control module 206. The ODU 200 mayrepresent an exemplary embodiment of the ODU 106.

The frequency translation module 202 includes signal processing modules208.1 through 208.i and a frequency division multiple access (FDMA)module 210. The signal processing modules 208.1 through 208.i determineone or more desired communications channels from among the ncommunications channels embedded within the observed communicationssignal 152 to provide intermediate frequency bands 252.1 through 252.i.The signal processing modules 208.1 through 208.i include signalprocessing tuners 212.1 through 212.m and a combination module 214. Eachof the signal processing modules 208.1 through 208.i are implemented ina substantially similar manner; however, the signal processing modules208.1 through 208.i may include a different number of the signalprocessing tuners 212.1 through 212.m.

The signal processing tuners 212.1 through 212.m filter one or moreunwanted communications channels from among the n communicationschannels embedded within the observed communications signal 152 leavingthe one or more desired communications channels from among the ncommunications channels. The one or more desired communications channelsfor signal processing tuners 212.1 through 212.m may be similar desiredcommunications channels or dissimilar desired communications channels.The signal processing tuners 212.1 through 212.m frequency translate theone or more desired communications channels to an intermediate frequencyto provide translated communications channels 254.1 through 254.m. Thecombination module 214 combines the translated communications channels254.1 through 254.m to provide the intermediate frequency band 252.1.

In an exemplary embodiment, the signal processing modules 208.1 through208.i include three signal processing tuners 212.1 through 212.3. Inthis exemplary embodiment, each of the signal processing tuners 212.1through 212.3 frequency translate a single desired communicationschannel from among the n communications channels embedded within theobserved communications signal 152 which are then combined to form atriple stacked communication signal. In another exemplary embodiment,the ODU 200 includes five signal processing modules 208.1 through 208.5,each of the signal processing modules 208.1 through 208.5 providing thetriple stacked communication signal for a total of fifteen desiredcommunications channels from among the n communications channels as theintermediate frequency bands 252.1 through 252.i.

The FDMA module 210 translates one or more of the desired communicationschannels, or portions thereof, from the among the intermediate frequencybands 252.1 through 252.i to a particular frequency band that may bedecoded by one or more of the IDUs 108.1 through 108.n.

The frequency translation module 202 is further described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/337,046, filed on Dec. 17, 2008, now U.S. Pat.No. 8,224,274, which is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

The network receiver 204 extracts the control information that isembedded within the observed communications signal 152 and/or from anout-of-band communications channel 250. The network receiver 204frequency translates the control information to baseband or any suitableintermediate frequency, demodulates the control information, and/ordecodes the control information to provide received control information256.

The control module 206 provides control signals 258 based upon thereceived control information 256. The control module 206 may use thecontrol information to enable and/or disable communication entirely withone or more of the IDUs 108.1 through 108.n or to control access to thetelevision, the internet data, and/or the other services embedded withinthe one or more of the n communications channels embedded within theobserved communications signal 152 to provide a conditional accesssystem between the satellites 102.1 through 102.n and the IDUs 108.1through 108.n. The control signals 258 may be used to enable and/ordisable the signal processing modules 208.1 through 208.i, along withtheir respective signal processing tuners 212.1 through 212.m, and/orthe FDMA module 210. For example, the control signals 258 may disableone or more of the signal processing tuners 212.1 through 212.m from thesignal processing module 208.1 such that their respective translatedcommunications channels 254.1 through 254.m are no longer provided tothe combination module 214. As another example, the control signals 258may disable the signal processing module 208.1, in its entirety, suchthat the intermediate frequency band 252.1 is no longer provided to theFDMA module 210. As a further example, the control signals 258 maydisable the FDMA module 210 such that the intermediary communicationssignal 154 is no longer provided to the IDUs 108.1 through 108.n. As ayet further example, the control signals 258 may disable a portion ofthe FDMA module 210 such that one or more of the frequency bands 252.1through 252.i are no longer provided to the IDUs 108.1 through 108.n aspart of the intermediary communications signal 154.

In an exemplary embodiment, the control module 206 possesses a uniqueaddress that allows an earth station within a satellite communicationsenvironment to select the ODU 200 from among multiple other ODUs withinthe satellite communications environment. The earth station mayindependently control the ODU 200 in this environment to control accessto unauthorized, yet functional, IDUs and/or end user devices within thesatellite communications environment to provide additional security tothe satellite communications environment.

In another exemplary embodiment, the frequency translation module 202and/or the control module 206 may be controlled using firmware that isstored within each of these modules and/or the frequency translationmodule 202. The ODU 202 may update this firmware via the controlinformation that is embedded within the observed communications signal152 and/or the out-of-band communications channel 250.

Signal Processing Tuner Implemented as Part of the First ODU Accordingto an Exemplary Embodiment of the Present Invention

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a signal processing tunerimplemented as part of the first ODU according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention. A signal processing tuner 300filters one or more unwanted communications channels from among the ncommunications channels embedded within the observed communicationssignal 152 leaving one or more desired communications channels fromamong the n communications channels. The signal processing tuner 300frequency translates the one or more desired communications channels toan intermediate frequency to provide a translated communicationschannels 350. The signal processing tuner 300 includes an amplifiermodule 302, a first bandpass filter module 304, a mixing module 306, anda second bandpass filter module 308. The signal processing tuner 300 mayrepresent an exemplary embodiment of one or more of the signalprocessing tuners 212.1 through 212.m.

The amplifier module 302 amplifies the n communications channelsembedded within the observed communications signal 152 to provide qnamplified communications signal 352.

The first bandpass filter module 304 filters the amplifiedcommunications signal 352 to provide a filtered communications signal354. The first bandpass filter module 304 filters unwanted noiseembedded within the amplified communications signal 352 and/or one ormore unwanted communications channels from among the n communicationschannels embedded within the observed communications signal 152 toprovide the filtered communications signal 354.

The mixer module 306 frequency translates the filtered communicationssignal 354 using a local oscillator signal 552 to provide a translatedcommunications signal 358. The mixer module 306 may frequency translatethe filtered communications signal 354 to approximately baseband or asuitable intermediate frequency (IF) that will be apparent to thoseskilled in the relevant art(s) from the teachings herein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

The second bandpass filter module 308 filters the translatedcommunications signal 358 to provide the translated communicationschannels 350. The translated communications channels 350 may representan exemplary embodiment of one or more of the intermediate frequencybands 252.1 through 252.i. The second bandpass filter module 308 filtersunwanted noise embedded within the translated communications signal 358and/or one or more unwanted communications channels from among thecommunications channels embedded within the translated communicationssignal 358 leaving one or more desired communications channels fromamong the n communications channels embedded within the observedcommunications signal 152.

Network Receiver Implemented as Part of the First ODU According to anExemplary Embodiment of the Present Invention

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a network receiver implemented aspart of the first ODU according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention. A network receiver 400 receives the controlinformation that is embedded within the observed communications signal152 and/or from an out-of-band communications channel 250. The networkreceiver 400 frequency translates the control information to baseband orany suitable intermediate frequency, demodulates the controlinformation, and/or decodes the control information to provide thereceived control information 256. The network receiver 400 includes afront end module 402, a demodulator module 404, and a decoder module406. The network receiver 400 may represent an exemplary embodiment ofthe network receiver 402.

The front end module 402 provides modulated control information 452based upon received control information 450. The received controlinformation 450 may be embedded within the observed communicationssignal 152 and/or from the out-of-band communications channel 250.

The front end module 402 may amplify the received control information450, convert the received control information 450 from an analogrepresentation to a digital representation, frequency translate thereceived control information 450 to approximately baseband or a suitableintermediate frequency (IF) that will be apparent to those skilled inthe relevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention, or perform any combination of these functions withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

The demodulator module 404 demodulates the modulated control information452 using any suitable analog or digital demodulation technique for anysuitable modulation technique such as amplitude modulation (AM),frequency modulation (FM), phase modulation (PM), phase shift keying(PSK), frequency shift keying (FSK), amplitude shift keying (ASK),quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and/or any other suitabledemodulation technique that will be apparent to those skilled in therelevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention to provide encoded control information 454.

The decoder module 406 decodes the encoded control information 454 usingany suitable decoding scheme that will be apparent to those skilled inthe relevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention to provide the received control information 256. Forexample, the decoder module 406 may additional apply error correctiondecoding, such as block code decoding and/or convolution code decodingto provide some examples, to the encoded control information 454.

A Second Outdoor Unit (ODU) According to an Exemplary Embodiment of thePresent Invention

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an outdoor unit (ODU) implementedas part of the satellite communications environment according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention. An ODU 500 selects one ormore of desired communications channels, or portions thereof, from amongthe n communications channels embedded within the observedcommunications signal 152. The ODU 500 may receive control informationfor operation of the IDUs 108.1 through 108.n and/or the end userdevices 110.1 through 110.n. The ODU 500 may use the control informationto enable and/or disable communication entirely with one or more of theIDUs 108.1 through 108.n or to control access to the television, theinternet data, and/or the other services embedded within the one or moreof the n communications channels to provide a conditional access systembetween the satellites 102.1 through 102.n and the IDUs 108.1 through108.n. The ODU 500 includes the network receiver 204, the control module206, and a frequency translation module 502. The ODU 500 may representan exemplary embodiment of the ODU 106.

The frequency translation module 502 includes an analog signal converter504, channel selection devices 506.1 through 506.m, a summation module508, and a digital to analog converter (DAC) 510. The analog signalconverter 504 converts the observed communications signal 152 from ananalog representation to a digital representation to provide a digitalcommunications signal 552. The analog signal converter 504 may convertthe n communications channels embedded within the observedcommunications signal 152 from the analog representation to the digitalrepresentation. Alternatively, the analog signal converter 504 mayconvert some of the n communications channels embedded within theobserved communications signal 152 from the analog representation to thedigital representation. The analog signal converter 504 may, optionally,filter the unwanted noise embedded within the observed communicationssignal 152 and/or one or more unwanted communications channels fromamong the n communications channels embedded within the observedcommunications signal 152.

The channel selection devices 506.1 through 506.m process the digitalcommunications signal 552 to provide desired communications channels554.1 through 554.m. The channel selection devices 506.1 through 506.mfilter one or more unwanted communications channels from among the ncommunications channels embedded within the digital communicationssignal 552 leaving one or more desired communications channels fromamong the n communications channels. The channel selection devices 506.1through 506.m frequency translate the one or more desired communicationschannels to an intermediate frequency to provide the desiredcommunications channels 554.1 through 554.m. The combination module 508combines the desired communications channels 554.1 through 554.m toprovide an intermediate frequency band 556.

The DAC 510 converts the intermediate frequency band 556 from a digitalrepresentation to an analog representation to provide the intermediarycommunications signal 154.

The frequency translation module 502 is further described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/337,046, filed on Dec. 17, 2008, now U.S. Pat.No. 8,224,274, which is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

The network receiver 204 extracts the control information that isembedded within the observed communications signal 152 and/or from anout-of-band communications channel 250 to provide the received controlinformation 256. Although not shown in FIG. 5, the control informationmay be alternatively extracted from the digital communications signal552 and/or from the out-of-band communications channel 250 to providethe received control information 256.

The control module 206 provides the control signals 258 based upon thereceived control information 256. The control module 206 may use thecontrol information to enable and/or disable communication entirely withone or more of the IDUs 108.1 through 108.n or to control access to thetelevision, the internet data, and/or the other services embedded withinthe one or more of the n communications channels embedded within theobserved communications signal 152 to provide a conditional accesssystem between the satellites 102.1 through 102.n and the IDUs 108.1through 108.n. The control signals 258 may be used to enable and/ordisable the analog signal converter 504, the channel selection devices506.1 through 506.m, and/or the DAC 510. For example, the controlsignals 258 may disable the analog signal converter 504 such that thedigital communications signal 552 is no longer provided to the channelselection devices 506.1 through 506.m. As another example, the controlsignals 258 may disable one or more of the channel selection devices506.1 through 506.m such that their respective the desiredcommunications channel 554.1 through 554.m is no longer provided to thecombination module 508. As a further example, the control signals 258may disable the DAC 510 such that the intermediary communications signal154 is no longer provided to the IDUs 108.1 through 108.n.

CONCLUSION

While various embodiments of the present invention have been describedabove, it should be understood that they have been presented by way ofexample, and not limitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled inthe relevant art(s) that various changes in form and detail may be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Thus the present invention should not be limited by any of theabove-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only inaccordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. An outdoor unit (ODU), comprising: a front endmodule configured to receive a communication signal having a pluralityof communication channels; a decoder, coupled to the front end module,configured to decode control information from the communication signal;a control module, coupled to the decoder, configured to send a controlsignal corresponding to the control information; and a frequencytranslation module, coupled to the control module, comprising: aplurality of channel selection devices, each channel selection device inthe plurality of channel selection devices corresponding to a respectivecommunication channel in the plurality of communication channels andbeing configured to: provide its respective communication channel fromthe communication signal when enabled by the control signal, or notprovide its respective communication channel from the communicationsignal when disabled by the control signal; and a combination moduleconfigured to combine one or more communication channels in theplurality of communication channels, the one or more communicationchannels corresponding to channel selection devices in the plurality ofchannel selection devices which are enabled.
 2. The ODU of claim 1,wherein the frequency translation module further comprises: an analogsignal converter configured to convert the communication signal from ananalog communication signal to a digital communication signal. whereineach channel selection device in the plurality of channel selectiondevices is configured to: provide its respective communication channelfrom the digital communication signal when enabled by the controlsignal, or not provide its respective communication channel from thedigital communication signal when disabled by the control signal.
 3. TheODU of claim 1, wherein the frequency translation module furthercomprises: a digital to analog converter (DAC) configured to convert theone or more combined communication channels from a digital communicationsignal to an analog communication signal.
 4. The ODU of claim 1, whereinthe control module is further configured to: determine, based on thecontrol information, whether a channel selection device in the pluralityof channel selection devices is to be disabled; and send the controlsignal to the channel selection device to disable the channel selectiondevice in response to determining that the channel selection device isto be disabled.
 5. The ODU of claim 1, wherein the front end module isfurther configured to: convert the communication signal from an analogrepresentation to a digital representation to provide modulated controlinformation.
 6. The ODU of claim 5, further comprising: a demodulatormodule configured to demodulate the modulated control information toprovide encoded control information.
 7. The ODU of claim 6, wherein thedecoder module is configured to decode the encoded control informationto provide the control information.
 8. An outdoor unit (ODU),comprising: a front end module configured to receive a communicationsignal having a plurality of communication channels; a decoder, coupledto the front end module, configured to decode control information fromthe communication signal; a frequency translation module comprising aplurality of hardware components, the plurality of hardware componentscomprising a plurality of channel selection devices and a combinationmodule, wherein the plurality of channel selection devices is configuredto: remove a first subset of communication channels of the plurality ofcommunication channels, and provide a second subset of communicationchannels of the plurality of communication channels, and wherein thecombination module is configured to combine the second subset ofcommunication channels; and a control module, coupled to the decoder,configured to: receive the control information, select, based on thecontrol information, a hardware component of the plurality of hardwarecomponents to be disabled, and send a control signal to the selectedhardware component to entirely disable the hardware component.
 9. TheODU of claim 8, wherein the plurality of hardware components furthercomprises: an analog signal converter configured to convert thecommunication signal from an analog representation to a digitalrepresentation; and a digital to analog converter configured to convertthe combined second subset of communication channels from the digitalrepresentation to the analog representation.
 10. The ODU of claim 8,wherein the front end module is further configured to provide, based onthe communication signal, modulated control information.
 11. The ODU ofclaim 10, further comprising: a demodulator module configured todemodulate the modulated control information to provide encoded controlinfoiniation.
 12. The ODU of claim 11, wherein the decoder is configuredto decode the encoded control information to provide the controlinformation.
 13. The ODU of claim 8, wherein the frequency translationmodule is further configured to generate an intermediary communicationsignal.
 14. The ODU of claim 13, further comprising: a frequencydivision multiple access (FDMA) module, wherein the control module isfurther configured to disable, based on the control information, aportion of the FDMA module such that the intermediary communicationsignal is no longer provided to an indoor data unit (IDU).
 15. The ODUof claim 13, further comprising: a frequency division multiple access(FDMA) module, wherein the control module is further configured todisable, based on the control information, a portion of the FDMA modulesuch that the first subset of communication channels is no longerprovided to an indoor data unit (IDU) as part of the intermediarycommunication signal.
 16. The ODU of claim 8, wherein the control moduleis further configured to: control access, based on the controlinformation, to a service embedded within the plurality of communicationchannels.
 17. A method for disabling communication between an outdoordata unit (ODU) and an indoor data unit (IDU), the method comprising:receiving a communication signal having a plurality of communicationchannels; converting, by an analog to digital converter (ADC), thecommunication signal from an analog representation to a digitalrepresentation to provide a digital communication signal; separatingmodulated control information from the digital communication signal;demodulating the modulated control information to provide encodedcontrol information; decoding the encoded control information to providedecoded control information, the decoded control information indicatingwhether access to a service embedded within the plurality ofcommunication channels is to be restricted; and sending a control signalto the ADC to disable the ADC when the decoded control informationindicates access to the service is to be restricted.
 18. The method ofclaim 17, further comprising: removing a first subset of communicationchannels of the plurality of communication channels when the decodedcontrol information indicates access to the service is not to berestricted, and providing a second subset of communication channels ofthe plurality of communication channels when the decoded controlinformation indicates access to the service is not to be restricted. 19.The method of claim 18, further comprising: combining the second subsetof communication channels when the decoded control information indicatesaccess to the service is not to be restricted.
 20. The method of claim19, further comprising: converting the combined second subset ofcommunication channels from the digital representation to the analogrepresentation when the decoded control information indicates access tothe service is not to be restricted.